This report is issued by the Administrator of the National Health Funding Pool under section 240 of the National Health Reform Act 2011.

This report is prepared on a cash basis. It shows monthly and year-to-date (YTD) National Health Reform (NHR) funding and payments for the Australian Capital Territory for April 2014 as part of the National Health Reform Agreement.

Local hospital networks and National Health Reform

A local hospital network (LHN) is an organisation that provides public hospital services in accordance with the Agreement. An LHN can contain one or more hospitals, and is usually defined as a business group, geographical area or community. Every Australian public hospital is part of an LHN.

Note: The term ‘local hospital network’ is a national term. Some states and territories use their own terminology to describe these networks, such as local health districts, health organisations, and hospital and health services.

Under the Agreement, LHNs receive funding for the following public hospital services:

All admitted and non-admitted services

All emergency department services provided by a recognised emergency department

Other outpatient, mental health, sub-acute services and other services that could reasonably be considered a public hospital service.

Note: LHNs also receive funding from other sources, including the Commonwealth, states and territories, and third parties for the provision of other specific functions and services outside the scope of the Agreement, for example dental services, primary care, home and community care, residential aged care and pharmaceuticals. For further information on total funding to a particular LHN, contact the ACT Health Directorate to view the service agreement for that LHN.

Basis for National Health Reform payments – Australian Capital Territory, April 2014

The basis used to determine NHR payments to LHNs in the Australian Capital Territory for April 2014 was advised by the ACT Health Directorate to be as follows:

The annual funding allocation for the ACT in 2014-15 is based on budget neutral modelling. This modelling is based on the historical cost of providing services plus cost indexation. The activity to be funded through activity-based funding is projected on historical activity levels with an allowance for growth for public hospital services in the ACT and derived through the application of the Independent Hospital Pricing Authority determinations.

The payments made by the ACT Government and the Commonwealth Government in April 2014 through the ACT Local Hospital Network Directorate were net of third party revenues, and were paid on the basis of estimated ACT local hospital network activity for the month of April 2014.

In February 2014, the Commonwealth provided Australian Capital Territory with additional public hospital funding of $553,357.27 under the 2013-14 Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) funding measure: Public Hospital System - additional funding. This funding was provided to offset the downward adjustment to 2013-14 NHR funding applied at the MYEFO due to the application of updated NHR funding indexation parameters. A requirement of the provision of this funding was that the funding be provided to LHNs through the National Health Funding Pool and / or State Managed Fund.

The Administrator has been advised by Australian Capital Territory that the Australian Capital Territory contributions to LHNs through the Pool between March and June 2014 will include this additional funding from the Commonwealth.

Reference information

The financial information outlined in the following report is categorised as:

NHR funding – when the Commonwealth or state or territory government pays NHR funding into a state pool account or state managed fund.

NHR payments – when NHR funding that has been deposited into a state pool account or state managed fund is paid out of the state pool account by the Administrator, or is paid out of the state managed fund by the state or territory.

State pool account transactions

This table shows funding paid into the Australian Capital Territory state pool account by the Commonwealth, the Australian Capital Territory or other states/territories, and payments out of the state pool account to LHNs, the state managed fund, the ACT Health Directorate or the state pool accounts of other states/territories for April 2014.

Following on from table 1a, this table shows year-to-date (YTD) funding paid into the Australian Capital Territory state pool account by the Commonwealth, the Australian Capital Territory or other states/territories, and payments out of the state pool account to LHNs, the state managed fund, the ACT Health Directorate or the state pool accounts of other states/territories as at April 2014.

Commonwealth ABF funding represents Acute admitted public, Acute admitted private, Non-admitted, and Emergency department, Sub-acute, and Admitted mental health service categories, which are funded by the Commonwealth through the state pool account and subsequently paid to LHNs.

Commonwealth Block funding represents Non-admitted mental health, Small rural hospitals, Teaching, training & research, and Other non-admitted categories, which are funded by the Commonwealth and paid to the state managed fund.

Commonwealth Other funding represents other amounts funded by the Commonwealth, transacted through the state pool account and subsequently paid to state or territory health departments. This currently represents the Commonwealth contribution to public health.

ACT funding represents funding contributions paid by the Australian Capital Territory into its own state pool account, and subsequently paid to LHNs within the territory, to the Australian Capital Territory health department and/or to other state pool accounts.

Other state/territory funding represents contributions paid to the Australian Capital Territory by other states and territories for cross-border activity.

Note: The grey shaded areas in these tables reflect that these amounts are not applicable for a particular 'paid out' column. For example, Commonwealth block funding is only paid to state managed funds and is not applicable for local hospital networks or state or territory health departments.

NHR funding and payments shown in these tables include GST where applicable.

State managed fund transactions

This table shows funding paid into the Australian Capital Territory state managed fund by the Commonwealth and the Australian Capital Territory, and payments out of the state managed fund to LHNs and other provider organisations for April 2014.

Following on from table 2a, this table shows year-to-date (YTD) funding paid into the Australian Capital Territory state managed fund by the Commonwealth and the Australian Capital Territory, and YTD payments out of the state managed fund to LHNs and other provider organisations as at April 2014.

Commonwealth Block funding represents Commonwealth block funding contributions paid into the state managed fund from the state pool account, and block payments out of the state managed fund to LHNs and other provider organisations.

State/territory Block funding represents Australian Capital Territory block funding contributions into the state managed fund, and block payments out of the state managed fund to LHNs and other provider organisations.

Note: The grey shaded areas in these tables reflect that these block payments cannot at this stage be identified by source of funding (state, territory or Commonwealth contribution).

NHR funding and payments shown in these tables include GST where applicable.

NHR funding and payments by service category

Table 3 – NHR funding and payments by service category – Australian Capital Territory, April 2014

This table shows NHR funding and payments by service category on both a monthly and year-to-date (YTD) basis for the Australian Capital Territory for April 2014. NHR funding and payments are separated into the following service categories – activity-based funding (ABF), block funding, and other funding.

Total ABF (Pool) is an aggregate of both Commonwealth and state or territory NHR funding and payments for activity-based funding (ABF) which is transacted through the state pool account.

Total Block (SMF) is an aggregate of both Commonwealth and state or territory NHR funding and payments for block funding which is transacted through the state managed fund (SMF).

Total Other (Pool) represents other funding and payments, which are transacted through the state pool account, including public health funding, overdeposits, cross-border funding and payments, and interest.

State and territory cross-border payments can either be:

Paid to the relevant state or territory's LHNs - included within ABF and/or block payments in the above table, or

Reimbursed to the relevant state or territory where the state or territory's LHNs are already being funded for the cost of treating cross-border patients - shown in the Cross-border row under Other in the above table.

NHR funding and payments shown in these tables include GST where applicable.

NHR contributions in this table are GST exclusive to enable comparability of NHR payments in each LHN report.

Note: This table excludes GST. The majority of government funding to LHNs is not subject to GST. However in some cases hospital funding to non-government entities does attract GST, for example, denominational hospitals, privately and commercially owned health facilities, or any other non-government third party provider of health services or related supplies.

Estimated monthly, YTD and annual activity

States and territories provide service volume estimates at the start of each financial year, and if required, can continue to refine these estimates during the course of the year. These estimates form the basis of monthly reporting of service volumes until actual service numbers become available. These estimates are expressed as National Weighted Activity Units (NWAU).

States and territories provide estimated annual NWAU to the Administrator as a basis for determining the Commonwealth activity-based funding. Current month NWAU estimates accumulate through the year-to-date (YTD) NWAU, to be equal to the annual NWAU at the end of the financial year.

States and territories may also provide activity information relating to the delivery of other public hospital functions funded.

This table shows estimated state or territory hospital activity for activity-based funding services expressed as NWAU for April 2014, the associated cumulative year-to-date (YTD), and total estimated annual NWAU for each LHN in the Australian Capital Territory.

An NWAU is a measure of health service activity expressed as a common unit. It provides a way of comparing and valuing each public hospital service, whether they are admissions, emergency department presentations or outpatient episodes, by weighting them for their clinical complexity. The average hospital service is worth one NWAU - the most intensive and expensive activities are worth multiple NWAU, the simplest and least expensive are worth fractions of an NWAU.

Monthly NHR payments relate to the cash needs of public hospitals and do not necessarily reflect the volume of services to be delivered in the month.